Can I buy freehold?

Yes, as long as you meet the following criteria:

• there must be at least 2 flats in the your building
• no more than 25% of the internal floor area excluding common parts must be in non-residential use
• there is no need to be resident in the flat. You simply need to own a long lease of the flat to be a qualifying leaseholder.
• at least two-thirds of the flats must be held by qualifying leaseholders. Where a leaseholder owns 3 or more flats solely or jointly these flats will not qualify and will not count towards the two-thirds
• under the formal route where you serve a legal notice (commonly called a s13 notice) on the freeholder, the participating leaseholders must own at least half of the flats in the building to qualify. However, where there are only 2 flats in the building both must participate

More about buying freehold

Buying the freehold of a block is known as enfranchisement.

There is no right to buy the freehold, which means you cannot apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to decide the terms. Instead, you can negotiate with the freeholder (the council) to acquire the freehold of the building by agreement.  

Phone the leasehold advisory service on 020 7374 5380 or visit their website http://www.lease-advice.org/ for more information.